About Bed Bug Biology

Exterminators in the San Francisco Bay Area

In order to win a battle, you must understand your adversary’s strengths,
weaknesses, and habits. In pest control, bed bugs are the battle of this
new century, but the strategies and tactics of the past century have us
losing the war. Read this and you will understand why our company is championing
a different solution.

Bed Bug Strengths

Bed bugs have plagued mankind since prehistoric times. They are mentioned
in Greek and biblical literature. They live only on blood drawn from animals
as they sleep -- especially from humans as we lack fur, which gets in
their way.
They can last over a year without eating as they sometimes eat over 100%
of their weight in one 15 minute meal. We also keep our habitats at ideal temperatures where bed bugs thrive.
Bed bugs breed incredibly fast, going from egg to breeding adult in just
60-90 days and laying 200-300 eggs in less than a year. Counting her generations
of offspring, a single female can replicate 1000 fold in just a year if
food (human blood) is abundant. Also the eggs are so small (1/32 inch)
that nearly 1000 could fit on a postage stamp. The eggs are sticky so
we can transport them on our clothes and belongings without knowing it.
The initial hatchlings are so small that hundreds can fit on a stamp,
and even 20-30 full-grown adults would fit on a stamp. They hide during
the day and feed on us while we sleep in the middle of the night. They
can find us in the dark of night by homing in on our heat signature (as
little as 1-2 degrees above the ambient) or sensing our exhaled breath’s
higher CO2 level. The places they hide are hard for us to reach: The insides
of walls, under carpets or furniture, behind pictures or headboards, and
deep in mattresses, box springs, or the cushions of furniture. They have
rapidly become resistant to most of today’s best neurotoxin pesticides.
The dried residuals of these pesticides are often only 1-10% as effective
as the initial liquid spray, so it is difficult to get a lasting control
even if only 1% survive initially. Further, most of these pesticides are
repellent pyrethroids which cause the bugs to disperse more widely. The
breeding method is brutal: Numerous males attack the female and stab her
directly in the abdomen to inject their sperm. Naturally, this causes
the female to flee while laying 2-4 eggs per day as she travels. The longer
a colony builds up, the wider they disperse. The bugs seem to be getting
15-20% worse each year in the U.S. despite a couple of decades of best
efforts. This sounds like impossible pest control situation, but now let’s
look at our enemy’s weaknesses, and how we at Beg Bugs all Gone
can use this to our advantage.

Bed Bug Weaknesses & Our Control Strategy

Bed bugs have a waxy coating on their exoskeleton or shell to keep them
from dehydrating. Our soy oil/protein product dissolves the Bedbug shell’s
waxy coating so it dehydrates and dies in minutes to a few hours. No resistance
has been noted to date; our soy treatment stays effective for up to 12
months. Our Cimi-Shield soy product does not affect humans, so it is classified
as a GRAS material (Generally Regarded As Safe) and qualifies for an EPA
25b exemption from registration.

Avoiding Re-Infestations

Turning your resting places into
“Island Fortresses” will deprive the bugs of the one food they need, which is your blood.
Bed bugs grow by casting off their exoskeletons five different times as
they go from egg to adult. This only occurs after a blood meal before
each molt. By depriving the bugs of blood meals, we can either delay their
maturation by many months or prevent it entirely by killing them as they
cross the soy
“Virtual Minefield”. If they do reach adulthood, female bed bugs only breed and lay eggs after
a meal, so depriving them of food or killing them on the trip to and from
the meal also prevents future generations. We recommend that you replenish
the strength of the
"Virtual Minefield" once a year. The cost is just a fraction of the original service price.

Call our exterminators in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Big Valley
today to learn more at (510) 230-0081.